The Phantom Warrior
by Hmm - words - words - words
Summary: In a world where Gaea prevails, one man and one man alone is the only hope for the survival of humanity. After Gaea defeats the seven and Nico, she sends them to different time periods. She fails to send one of them though. The only one who could stop her. He has to go back through time, chasing the other seven, to bring them home. Only one problem though, he has to kill them first
1. Chapter 1 - The Beginning

**A/n - I know, I know, I still have another story on the go, but this was a story that had been bouncing around in my head for quite some time and I wanted to write it down so I wouldn't forget it.**

**Disclaimer - I do not own, nor will I ever own Percy Jackson and The Olympians, the one and only Rick Riordan does**

**Chapter 1**

**3rd Person POV**

The clanging of heavy shackles and the deep, labored breathing were the only sounds in the cell. Upon closer inspection, you would see the curled up figure in the far left corner of the cell, trying to make himself as small as possible. Trying desperately to not be spotted, to not be picked. As the prison blocks door opened, light shone through the iron bars, waking up the prisoner. With a deep gasp and the cracking of bones, the man stood up, showing the jailer his cut and bruised face.

The jailer made a mistake and looked into the prisoners eyes and saw something that would stay with him for life. He looked into the prisoners sea-green eyes filled with a sort of hopelessness, crazed madness and sorrow mixed in one.

The jailer regained his composure and hardened attitude and grabbed the prisoner roughly by his shackles and shoved him to the open doorway. He barked out "Move it now prisoner, before I lose my patience!"

The prisoner stumbled through the cell door, tripping over his own shackles. He clambered to his feet and trudged into the 'locker room' where all the other slaves were waiting. Somewhere to the far left a man shouted off names at a rate of a name per every 2 minutes. Each person he calls is shoved into passage way and then they are shoved by 4 guards into the arena. The names seemed endless as the prisoner waited to be called into the arena.

'Prisoner 356' he heard a faint voice say. He then heard a gruff voice say "Prisoner 356 you will regret it if you don't move. Move it!" The prisoner rose from his seating accommodation and slowly made his way to the name caller, where he was roughly pushed into the grasp of guards, who loved nothing more than throwing around their weight about.

The prisoner, slowly but surely, walked through the gates to the arena. He was momentarily blinded by the light that hit him and temporarily deafened by the roaring of the gigantic crowd. He was herded into the middle of the arena, where he heard a massive gate clang and bang on the ground, meaning that he couldn't get out until he finished.

He turned around when he heard a small clatter of metal. He saw a sword and shield sitting on the floor. The prisoner thought mentally "Stupid Romans and their cruddy equipment, they should know by now I have my own equipment."

As he prepared for his gladiatorial battle, he saw sight of his opponent. A strong looking fella, who if the prisoner was not mistaken, was the Emperors personal 'bodyguard' of sorts. The prisoner wondered why he was going to challenge him, but he also wondered whether he should lose this battle on purpose. He thought this because the Emperor has had this brute as his bodyguard for quite some time, so will the Emperor try to take revenge, or will he simply not care.

The prisoner unsheathed his sword and pulled his shield off his back, this is when he contemplated on whether or not he should use the sword and shield on the floor, before he decided not to, not to be seen upon as another follower of the kingdom.

As the prisoner was finally ready, he raised his hands and the crowd cheered. He didn't want the crowd to like him, he wanted them to hate him, yet no matter how many opponents he dispatches of, the crowd still cheer for him, they still believe he was a legend, still believed he was unstoppable.

He shook his head trying to clear it, knowing that he might be in for the fight of his life. He knew the Emperors bodyguard must be elite, for not just anyone can win the respect of Nero. _Nero_, that name lingered in his head, _Nero, probably the cruelest emperor in history and most likely ever will be_. That thought stayed with him for a few seconds before he calmed himself. No point getting worked up.

When he saw the bodyguard make his way towards him, he finally reached his decision, he would try his hardest to win this battle, thinking that Nero deserves to lose a dear friend for all the dear friends that Romes civilians have lost due to him.

Without a second thought he charged at the armor covered warrior.

What he didn't expect was the bodyguard to be quick. Seriously quick.

He ducked under a swing from the bodyguard's sword, only to be bashed in the chest by a shield. He stumbled a bit, the wind knocked out of him but the bodyguard didn't waste anytime in attacking. He jumped forward and lunged with his sword, the prisoner barely managed to raise his shield to block. The prisoner jumped backwards to put space between himself and the bodyguard, so he could catch his breath.

The prisoner looked at the bodyguard fearfully. He new he couldn't possibly win this battle. But he didn't give up. He kept fighting. He swung his sword, aiming for the bodyguards neck, hoping to end this fight quickly, but the bodyguard simply raised his sword, making a clang as the metal met each other. The bodyguard pushed his sword down the length of the prisoners, changed his grip so he was holding it in the ice pick grip and he pushed down. The sword cut through the prisoners fingers, cutting 2 off. The prisoner dropped his sword and shield in pain.

He clutched his hand whilst in immense pain. He slowly looked up to see the body guard looking up at Nero, whom proceeded to have his thumb out sideways, one of which the prisoner had seen many times before. He still couldn't believe how easily he had been beat. He thought it wasn't possible. He was one of the best fighters in all of the Roman empire. He was respected. He was feared. But the bodyguard was just to good. He beat the prisoner in a record time. 2 minutes it took him to be beat. Yeah so he wasn't fully trying, but the bodyguard seemed to of been in the class above. He was a formidable foe.

Don't get the prisoner wrong, the bodyguard may of been better, but it was only so easy because there seemed to be some trickery in the works. He had been starved. Most likely to make him weaker, not up to his game and it worked. He could barely lift his sword.

None of this mattered though. His time was up. The emperor pointed his thumb down. The bodyguard turned towards the prisoner and muttered nearly in audible words, but the prisoner heard it. The melancholy words in question were "I'm so sorry Nico, I hope you reach Elysium."

The prisoner, or Nico, looked up, shocked. Only to see the bodyguards sword come down. all that could be heard was the sound of flesh being pierced and then a strangled cry of deep pain and anguish. Nico looked up into the bodyguards visor, and his mangled cries of terror were replaced by a strangled gasp.

Through the visor peered out pained and sorrowful and darkened sea-green eyes.

"I'm so, so sorry Nico..."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/n - I just want to thank everyone who favorited and followed my story.**

**Disclaimer - I do not own, nor will I ever own Percy Jackson and The Olympians, the one and only Rick Riordan does!**

**Chapter 2**

My deep, heavy breathing broke the almost silent night. I was being followed. I don't know by who. As I ran through the streets of London, I could hear my feet scraping along the floor. I heard the air ripple behind me, I turned and saw a shadow leap onto a roof on my left. he was still after me. I have no clue how, how did he find me, who was he, better yet, what did he want? I couldn't think of an answer as my brain was only registering the words 'Keep Running' and 'Don't Stop'.

So I did exactly that. I put my head down and raced through the streets of London. Only this time I didn't stop to check where the shadowy figure was, I knew it would cost me too much valuable time. Valuable time I certainly didn't have to waste.

The only sound made apart from his breathing and heavy footsteps were the scurrying of rats and the sounds of straw crunching underfoot. The latter being caused by the rogue man hopping from rooftop to rooftop.

I momentarily paused when I reached a cross road, which way, left, stick to the left. My curly hair stuck to my face, beads of sweat ran down my face. I heard a cough to my right and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I whipped my head round so quickly I nearly got whiplash. What I saw made me let out a sigh of relief. It was just a passed out drunk man. Which was good until I remembered the shadow, shadowing me. I lost time that I didn't have, thinking he was next to me, I had to be on the move again.

"Leo, just..." I heard a deep voice say before the words were lost in the wind. I realized that the words came from the shadowy figure. How did he know my name? Did he know me? If he did, why was he after me? I know I make a lot of people angry with my constant jokes, but that doesn't explain why anyone would want to kill me.

I opened up my palm, willed it to ignite, and watched in amazement as flames flickered to life across my fingers. I held my fire covered arm out, watching as it illuminated the darkly lit path.

"Leo, put it out!" Said the shadowy figure once again, only this time, I felt like I recognized the voice. I just couldn't place my finger on it.

For some reason, I felt compelled to follow the order. I didn't know why, but I did. I ignored the feeling of dread that washed over me and kept running. I had a feeling that something was going to happen, something big. Then it clicked, something Nyssa said, a fire user in London. More specifically, 1666, when the great fire of London happened. she had said a child of Hephaestus, a fire user had caused it., It was me, it had to be me, who else could it of been. I ran past a newspaper on the floor, I stopped suddenly, I picked it up, checked the year and dropped it in shock, the date said 1666. This confirmed my fears, I started the fire.

I couldn't get to caught up in my thoughts, not here, not now, I had to keep moving. If only I had Festus, he would get me out of here. In my momentary lapse of concentration, I stumbled over something. Something big. I landed face first into the path. A searing pain shot through my ankle and my wrist.

Not now, I thought, this is not what I need. I need to keep moving. I clambered to my feet, trying to ignore the shooting pain arching through my wrist as I pushed off the ground, but that was nothing compared to the amount of pain that washed over me as I moved my ankle. I fell back down, forgetting about moving, the pain was to much.

I just sat there, finally accepting defeat. There was no way I could get out of this. I could either try and make a run for it, then fall down and fail miserably, or I could stay and fight, try and stand my ground and maybe go out graceful.

Either way, I thought, I'm going to die, so why not accept defeat and try to be remembered as Leo Valdez, the boy who was graceful in defeat.

At that moment, the person chasing me dropped down in front of me. I looked up and said, gasping, "I give up, I'm tired, I..I can't go on any more, just tell me what you want, please."

The light only illuminated his mouth, showing me his sad smile, as if he regretted what he was doing.

I lit my hand on fire, so I could get a better view of his face and what I saw shocked me.

"Percy..., but why? Why are you doing this?" I asked, disbelievingly.

He just met my eyes and said "I'm so sorry Leo."

At which point he leaned in closer to me and whispered something in my ear, "I have to, before you ask why, you will find out in due time. I promise you that it is for the best, I have to do it, for the good of the earth, please, don't make this any harder than it is."

I just looked up at him and said "Gaea, did she ...?"

Was all I got out but Percy seemed to of got the gist of it as he sadly nodded his head and said "Yeah she did."

I just looked sadly at the floor, knowing that Percy must have a reason for this, and I could tell it was killing him, by looking in his eyes you could see the pain being contained.

"I have one question though." I said with a small smile.

He raised his head, saw my smile, and curiously said "What?"

I chuckled at his confused expression, one that I had seen many a times before. I then asked "Where the hell did you learn to free run, that was awesome?"

He still wore the confused expression "I honestly haven't got the faintest idea, it just came to me, as though I had been doing it all my life, I was pretty good though wasn't I." He said with a melancholy laugh, before his expression turned grim.

I knew he had to do what he had to do, yet I don't know why I was so easy in giving up, in accepting my fate. I felt like I should at least put up a fight. But I didn't, knowing full well that Percy didn't want to do this, knowing that he wouldn't do this unless he up most had to.

I decided to let him do it because Percy had saved me so many times in the past, or future I suppose. I looked behind me, seeing what I stopped in front of, it was a bakery, the same bakery which the fire started from, the same bakery I had seen many times before in books, books about the great fire, books which I read trying to prove Nyssa wrong, books which sealed the deal.

I started the Great Fire of London, me, Leo Valdez.

I nodded to Percy, telling him I was ready. He looked pained but he also looked like he had experienced this before, and he didn't like it. I also new I had to start the fire, despite how much I wanted to stop it, I knew I had to, I knew I must. This fire helped shape London for the better.

I braced myself as Percy took out riptide, a beautiful, majestic sword, one that I had seem many a times in battle, but never really considered deadly, until now.

I turned my attention to controlling the fire inside of me, I willed it to not burn Percy, something I didn't know I could do.

Percy, seeing my tense face, must of decided to end my misery. He took a deep breath and lunged at me with his sword. It passed through my stomach and came out the other side. The pain I felt was just to much, I couldn't keep the fire inside of me.

The fire burst out of me, creating a blast of searing hot amber flames to spit in every direction. I lay convulsing on the floor, willing, with the last of my strength, for the fire not to burn Percy.

The last thing I saw was Percy sinking to his knees, and mutter "I'm so sorry Leo..."


End file.
